Gyromitra sp. (pig's ear). 2015. Photo by Steve Olson Found a Pig's Ear in the Woods! Steve Olejniczak Steve found this interesting mushroom while out looking for morels in Minnesota and took an iPhone picture. Location: Welch, MN Elevation: 100 ft elevation roughly Environment: Mixed hardwood forest ID confirmation pending from experts, but tentatively: Gyromitra (Discina) ancilis (pig's ear); or Neogyromitra (Gyromitra) brunnea (gabled false morel) Camera Apple iPhone Focal L. Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on May 12, 2015 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Field Reports 2015 Alaska Foray Report Please forgive my musings. Folks have asked how was it? "It" being the long distance foray up in the Kenai Pennisula in Alaska. Well, this is my 3rd trip, so that pretty much sums it up. It is alway fanastic and I keep swearing this the LAST one, but 2016 is just around the corner. Oh yeah, as long as Bill White offers our club this "Deal of a Lifetime", how can I say NO? Katherine (Kitty) Elvin • September 28, 2015 Exit Glacier Group Photo (Alaska Foray 2015) Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts 2016 Alaska Foray Field Report Field Reports Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Pilobolus sp. Photo by Judith Ogus Pilobolus Fungus Judith Ogus Found the fungus on horse manure and used a 200mm macro lens for the photo and Canon40D body. Camera Canon40D Focal L. 200mm Aperture Shutter Sp. ISO Flash Photo taken on April 20, 2019 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Taylor Lockwood's National Geographic Magazine Debut Dear friends -- In the past twenty-five years or so I have been sending major publications some of my best images in hopes of getting them to see mushrooms as nature's art instead of dried up moldy pieces of science. That's o.k. too but I'm going for nature's beauty here. Taylor Lockwood • February 12, 2014 Bioluminescent mushrooms. © Taylor Lockwood It has been very frustrating and I've written letters detailing my thoughts about their aesthetic fungophobia -- but I didn't send them. I decided to take the high road and keep photographing and sending images until there was one to which they could not say "no". My persistence has paid off. In the May, 2014 issue, in their front section, Visions of Earth, National Geographic Magazine is going to feature one of my mushroom photos in a two page spread. To their credit, they picked one of the best mushroom photos of my career -- bioluminescent mushrooms with no other light than from the light of the moon. That image (above) and many more will be in this year's "Spirits of the Forest" tour in the fall. This is a great day for mushrooms. And, to the many people who have bought my "mushroom items", booked shows, given advice, helped with editing and identifications, provided hospitality as well as other support, this is not just my success; it is your success too. This is not a time to "rest upon laurels". I feel even more charged than before. To that end, I'll be going to Brazil again this Friday and Australia/New Zealand next month. I hope to see you on the "Spirits of the Forest" tour in the fall, Taylor Editor's Note: As of 2026, a photo of the 2-page spread is available in the National Geographic Photographic archive channel (@geoarchive_) on Instagram. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Cam Cam by Taylor Lockwood Mycology & Art News Bioluminescent Mushrooms from Spirits of the Forest Mycology & Art News Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Aureoboletus (Boletus) mirabilis, Puget Sound. Photo by Yevgeny Nyden Aureoboletus mirabilis Yevgeny Nyden Aureoboletus (Boletus) mirabilis , commonly known as the admirable bolete, the bragger's bolete, and the velvet top, is an edible species of fungus in the Boletaceae mushroom family. ( Wikipedia ) I took this photo in the Olympic National Park, Washington when I was visiting the Puget Sound Wild Mushroom Show. Camera Samsung SGH-M919 Focal L. 4mm Aperture f/2.2 Shutter Sp. 1/700s ISO 1000 Flash Off Photo taken on October 13, 2013 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Writings Reality Check: Dispelling a Myth Have you ever walked down a trail you know, searching for mushrooms you had missed? What was different? Your perspective? So was mine--I could not recognize ground I covered from a different direction. I was lost. Henry Young • January 26, 2015 Forest at Kings Fire (2015). Photo by Yevgeny Nyden (Reprinted from FFSC's original Duff newsletter, 1998) After getting rained out on this year's annual Eldorado camping foray, Phil and I decided to return several weeks later based on reports from a friend of good hunting. We drove up Friday evening, June 5, arriving at the campground about 10:30 PM. First things first, we each had a beer. Then we made a minimal camp. We decided that since we could see the moon through the clouds that it wouldn’t rain and didn’t set up the tent. Phil set out his tarp and sleeping bag at the base of a large pine. I set my gear down in the open. On a trip to the restroom I found three Boletus edulis with my flashlight! We both took this as a good sign and planned on checking the campground in the morning. Before dawn I awoke to a clear sky and stars. Not long after, with the first sounds of morning, birdsong greeting us, the day began. With daylight we had coffee and sweet rolls and headed for the burn. Forest at Kings Fire (2015). Photo by Yevgeny Nyden Burns, whether controlled burns or forest fires, are good places to hunt morels in the Sierra Nevada. This was a controlled burn from the previous year. Arriving at the burn, Phil recommended a road I was unfamiliar with, that ran along the ridge above the burn. The road I knew was a few hundred yards below the ridge.This road was more like a stream bed than a road. The surface was “gravel” composed of 3-6” rocks. The lower road was earthen and smoother. With the burn bounded by the two roads we had good reference points for knowing where we were in relation to the truck. We would hunt up and down the slope and move down the road, driving the truck up a few hundred yards at a time. At the first likely spot we looked, we found a few fresh morels in what I call bear clover (not sure of the species) a habitat where neither of us had previously found any fungi. Encouraged, we kept moving up the ridge, stopping, checking, and collecting a few here and there. We found good habitat after a couple of hours and collected several pounds of morels each. At about 11:30 AM we broke for lunch. Phil had those obnoxious sardines in hot sauce, cheese, pickles, and potato chips. “Have you had the fat free chips?”, he asked. “Try some, they’re really good”. I did, not bad. I had my usual chub of salami, cheese, bread and some fruit. Of course both of us had beer. While we had lunch we observed the skyline and Phil noticed a coolness in the air that presaged a storm. Since we had heard the weather prediction, thunderstorms starting late Saturday for the weekend we were not surprised and agreed to get off that road before the rain started. After lunch we went back for more morels. At one point Phil chose to go further down the slope. Starting to tire, I decided to head back up slope to the truck. As I went, I intentionally drifted east or to my right thinking to search areas we hadn’t been in before I got to the road. I expected to come out on the road above the truck and just walked down to the truck. When I got to the ridge there was the road and a nice patch of morels which I picked. I then started down the road to the truck but quickly realized that I was on a different road than the ridge road the truck was on. This road led down between two ridges. “How did this happen?”, I asked myself. As I had worked my way up the hill I kept the ridge in sight and felt that I was still below the ridge road. What I did not know was that the ridge road ended a short distance from the truck and I had gone past that point before reaching the ridge. The road I was on was on the next ridge over. It was then about 2PM and I wasn’t worried about time to find my way back yet. Thinking to retrace my path, I returned to the last morel patch and tried to figure which way led back the way I had come. I realized that I had gotten turned around and no longer knew which way to go. Have you ever walked down a trail you know, searching for mushrooms you had missed? What was different? Your perspective? So was mine, I could not recognize the ground I covered from a different direction. I was lost. In the hope that I was wrong, I started up the ridge road I was on. I thought that if I was on the right road I’d get to the truck in a few minutes. Five minutes became ten, then fifteen, at which point I turned around and started back to the morel patch. By this time I was fatigued and not thinking clearly. I had gone out wearing just a tee shirt and jeans, leaving my fanny pack with emergency supplies in the truck. I had no food and no water. As I walked, and I walk at a fast pace, I noticed that my hands were turning blue. I assumed that it was from oxygen deprivation, since the day was still warm and I was not chilled, and I stopped to catch my breath. After that I would walk for 24-40 paces, stop, and breath ten times and resume walking. When I got back to the morel patch reference pointI spent about fifteen more minutes frantically trying to figure which way to go. As I tried to hike through the woods, off road I got light headed and dizzy, my legs cramping. I returned to the road and decided on the direction that led out to North-South Road and headed down it. After what seemed to be a couple of miles, I decided that I had gone too far and was going in the wrong direction. I turned around thinking that I should have followed one of the first rules when lost, stay put . I wanted to get back to the last morel patch because I knew it was within a few hundred yards of the truck and Phil would at some point honk the horn on the truck and I could follow the sound back. Then it started raining. Meanwhile Phil was wondering where I was since we had agreed to get out before the rain started. After I had left him he hunted down the slope and back up. When he got to the truck and I wasn’t there he just figured that I was still hunting elsewhere so he went back out again. Returning the second time and finding that I still wasn’t there he got concerned. He started honking the horn and calling out to me. When he got no response he became worried that I might be hurt and unable to respond. He then searched the slope we had been hunting, up and down, side to side. Since I had not gotten lost in the twelve years we’ve hunted together, he held firm in his mind, “Henry doesn’t get lost” . So the only other explanation for my absence was that I was hurt. When it started raining he knew that something must be wrong and he got his rain gear on and hiked out to North-South Road, where some horsemen were camped. This was because I had the truck keys and had not given him a duplicate since we were not locking the truck. He explained the situation to them and one of them gave him a ride to the nearest phone at the campground to call for help. Phil started by calling 911, but they could not connect him to the ranger search and rescue team. He finally got the search and rescue phone number and called direct. The effort to find me, beyond Phil’s, had begun. It was a frustratingly slow start for Phil as it took over an hour to get anyone else into the woods to search. He and two sheriff’s deputies finally got back out to where the truck was and re-searched the slope we had been hunting on. By then it was 5:30PM and Phil was tiring from all of the hiking he had done that day but he still moved up and down the slope easier and faster than the two deputies half his age. With darkness approaching, the deputies call off the search in the woods and explained to Phil that they would drive the roads with lights and sirens on to give me something to hone in on. At this point Phil said, “Aren’t you going to keep looking? Give me a light and I will.” “No. We don’t need two missing persons.” “But I’m telling you, Henry doesn’t get lost. He must be hurt and down in this rain he won’t survive the night.” “We’re going to drive the roads. You stay with the truck in case he shows up.” “What are you going to do about me?”, Phil asked. “Can’t you sleep in the back of the truck?” “No, it’s wet and full of gear.” When the rain started I knew that I had to make a shelter and hope that a rescue effort would start soon. I needed shelter from the rain and the cold of night. I chose a cedar tree to build a lean-to against. I chose the cedar because of its thick canopy, hoping it would help shed the rain. I started building the lean-to with eight foot branches about 3 inches in diameter. I leaned three main poles against the tree and started cutting green boughs from other trees to layer over the poles. I then added pine duff and more boughs. Then two of the poles collapsed and all I had was a pile of debris. I fished out the poles, moved the boughs and duff out of the way and started over. I made the second attempt a bit smaller than the first, but it too collapsed. At that point, I remembered that for heat retention, smaller is better . My third attempt to build a lean-to was small , the poles only touching the tree about three feet up. Just enough so that sitting with my back to the tree I had just enough room. This time it worked. I piled and gathered and piled until at most all I could see when looking out was a few specks of daylight. I left one side open so I could get in and out. One side kept collapsing which let the breeze flow through – finally though it stabilized. It helped to drape green branches over the doorway to reduce airflow. By then I was soaked to the skin and my activity and adrenaline were not enough to keep me warm so I stuffed my T-shirt with pine needles for insulation . Around 4PM I reached the point of exhaustion and chill that I could not work on my lean-to any longer, so I crawled in to wait. After a while I started thinking, “There’s still lots of daylight, the rain is letting up, I could walk for ½ hour trying to get back, and if not, return to the shelter.” I crawled out of my shelter, picked up my basket and started walking. I reached a dirt bike road going up a short distance from my shelter and started up it. My legs protested with trembling and cramps. My head spun. “You idiot, get back to your shelter.” I did. Sitting in my little lean-to, I had a lot of time to think over all of the things I could or should have done. The first and most obvious was that I should have worn my fanny pack. Had I done so, I would have been warm and dry in my shelter rather than cold and soaked to the skin. Being tired, I should have just gone to the truck instead of hunting more. As anyone who knows me is aware I wear a bandana to keep the sweat out of my eyes. I took it off and squeezed as much water out of it as I could. I then retied it in triangular fashion over my head to help retain some body heat. A short while later I reached up and felt it, it was dry! If you are cold, cover your head . You lose a lot of body heat out the top of your head and a hat will help retain it . I wondered what Phil was thinking and doing. I hoped he’d realized I was lost by this time and had gone for help. I shivered and rubbed my arms, stuffed my shirt with more pine needles and waited for dark. A while before dark I did something I hadn’t done in years. I said a prayer. This was different though. I prayed to my mother who had died just over two weeks ago on May 20. I prayed to her because at her funeral service, Father Mike urged us to when we were in a time of need. It was short and simple, “Ma, please send someone to find your son”. With darkness I started the long wait for the return of daylight. After calling for search and rescue, Phil called home to have his wife Margaret pass the word that I was missing to Marje, my wife. Marje was spending her afternoon shopping. About the time it started raining on me she started feeling uneasy. At 4PM a voice inside said “Go home, now!”. So she did. Since Phil or I hadn’t called to say we’d be back in time for dinner, Marge made dinner plans with a friend. Then Margaret called with the news that I was missing. Marge’s concern was the same as Phil’s. “Henry doesn’t get lost, so he must be hurt.” Two Eldorado Park Rangers arrived on the scene and following directions headed to where my truck was. Whether the directions were inaccurate or in the darkness they missed the second road to the right I don’t know. They wound up taking the third road right. Sitting shivering, thinking, fearing the night and hypothermia, I heard the sound of a motor vehicle. Turning toward the sound I saw headlights and spotlights round a bend in the road. I was instantly out of the shelter shouting and whistling to get their attention. The vehicle started down a side road away from me when I heard a woman’s voice say, “Where are you?”. I was thinking, “Come up the road not down.”, but all I could shout was “Up, up, up.” They understood and drove up to where I was. I had been found. Getting out of the vehicle someone noticed my lean-to and said, “Built yourself a shelter, smart move.” At that point I was untucking my shirt and dumping out the pine needles. I must have been a sight. “What are the pine needles for?” “Insulation.” “Another smart move.” They made room for me in the truck, gave me the front passenger seat and cranked up the heat. The myth? Henry doesn’t get lost; dispelled. Henry got lost. Now read Phil's account of this day from a companion's point of view. Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Lost: The Companions View Writings Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Bedbugs Banished by Beauveria Bassiana Just when those creepy little bloodsuckers seemed to become resistant to all pest control options, in comes the mycological equivalent of Buffy the vampire slayer, Nina Jenkins and colleague Matthew Thomas. Cortinarius • May 12, 2014 Grasshoppers killed by B. bassiana (on wikimedia.org) In truth, the real heroine is an arthropod-killing fungus, Beauveria bassiana. Jenkins and her team are pursuing research and development on a new bio-pesticide utilizing powdered fungal spores of B. bassiana. Initial bioassays show promise. Invading bedbugs marching through the dust appear to be highly susceptible, going belly-up within 6 days. Although this is a novel approach to bed bug infestations, B. bassiana is already in use as a bio-pesticide for termites, thrips, whiteflies, aphids and some beetles. Nina Jenkins is working at Penn State in the Thomas Lab where her work centers on the development of bio-pesticides derived from fungi. Development includes strategies for mass production of fungal conidia, its enhancement and long term stability. For more, visit [a copy of] the original article: https://web.archive.org/web/20140926020643/http://www.huck.psu.edu/about/news-archive/thomas-bedbug-control/ Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Microscopy of Gilled Mushrooms Mycology & Art News Could a Stropharia Filter E. Coli Bacteria From Drinking Water? Mycology & Art News Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

Support TEST - We're still moving the following info over to this new system: Past orders (such as tickets and memberships)--don't worry, if you registered for Albion in December, we still have your details! Past announcements about monthly speakers, culinary events, forays, etc. Past Fungus Fair announcements and speaker lists Past field reports Past news articles Past bio pages (e.g., MycoGeeks) If you can't find what you're looking for, try using the Search icon at the top of the page. If you still can't find what you're looking for, feel free to use the Contact Us form and ask where to find it. Where Did Things Go? In November 2025, we started moving this website to a new system. Here is a list of what is still being migrated.

Avoid the Forest After Dark. Photo by Dan Tischler Avoid the Forest After Dark Dan Tischler With Halloween just around the corner, be extra careful when you go into the forest at night. Camera Olympus TG-4 Focal L. 10mm Aperture f/3.5 Shutter Sp. 1/200s ISO 100 Flash Off Photo taken on January 19, 2022 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

Candy Cap with Newt. Photo by Linda Maxwell Candy Cap with Newt Linda Maxwell Thanks for sharing this photo, Linda. We also loved your Newt-Free Candy Cap cookies at the January General Meeting! Camera Canon PowerShot SX260 HS Focal L. 5mm Aperture f/3.5 Shutter Sp. 1/300s ISO 640 Flash Off Photo taken on December 17, 2014 Mushroom(s) ... Previous Photo Back to Gallery Next Photo

News & Stories / Field Reports 2015 January Local Foray Wrap Up A group of about 30 FFSC foragers descended into the western Santa Cruz area yesterday morning, searching for shrooms... Cass Fuentes • January 26, 2015 Local Foray attendees. Photo by Cassandra Fuentes Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Field Report on January 2015 Local Foray Field Reports Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article

News & Stories / Mycology & Art News Stephen Axfords Macro Lens Photography This other-worldly view of fungi from New South Wales, Australia should not be missed. Cortinarius • May 20, 2014 These specimens look like oysters holding silver pearls. This image is hosted on www.dailymail.co.uk . © Stephen Axford/Hotspot Media Axford’s work is 12 years in the making, and worth a look. Much of his work allows us to see structure and detail otherwise invisible. The images are jaw dropping, crisp and colorful. Some are even glow-in-the-dark. For more, visit the website below. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2630349/Now-theyre-magic-mushrooms-Amazing-images-reveal-glow-dark-fungi-lighting-forests-alien-like-toadstools.html Members Only Content Login Join FFSC Related Posts Forager's Feast Photo Album Mycology & Art News Mushroom Photo Exhibition Mycology & Art News Previous Article All News & Stories Next Article